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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29232243">if you fall apart, i’ll be there to catch you</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/eternaloutlines/pseuds/eternaloutlines'>eternaloutlines</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Next Step</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Babies, Best Friends, Cuddling &amp; Snuggling, Cute, Domestic Fluff, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Fake/Pretend Relationship, First Dance, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Meet-Cute, Movie Night, Multi, Platonic Cuddling, Sleepovers, Soulmates, btw in this version Michelle and Richelle are sisters, check out Wattpad if u want the chapters faster, dont blame me I try to keep it interesting</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 09:07:56</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,039</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29232243</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/eternaloutlines/pseuds/eternaloutlines</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>nochelle oneshots go melt ur heart and beef up this fandom on ao3<br/>cross posted on wattpad, faster uploads there @eternaloutlines</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Amy/Henry (The Next Step), Finn/Piper (The Next Step), James/Riley (The Next Step), Noah/Richelle (The Next Step)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. trick or treat</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>~Season 3~</p><p>"Boo!" Richelle laughed, jumping out from behind her best friend's black leather couch, her newly brown hair sweeped back into a high pony with loose curls falling over her shoulders. Her usual dance attire had been swapped out for the same cat costume she had been wearing each October 31st for the past 3 years.</p><p>"Shhhhii..." Noah jumped back, closing his eyes whilst clutching his chest in shock. "Why do I fall for this every year! And how did you get in my room?!" He groaned, an annoyed tone lacing his speech as his hand dragged down his face to reveal a smile of admiration, mirroring Richelle's accomplished grin.</p><p>"1. I don't have a clue, it literally happens every. Single. Year. And 2. Your mum let me in, obviously, you know Franci loves me!" The smaller girl retorted, hand-springing over the sofa to where Noah had entered. His room was much bigger than hers, having room for his double bed, en-suite, walk-in wardrobe and entire seating area - it was more like a studio apartment than anything else. Even though her family were pretty well-off, she still had to share a room (and bathroom) with Michelle, the queen of being unnecessarily messy. Noah's house was quiet, he had privacy, a personal space, no screaming kids everywhere—she envied that. </p><p>"I'll never understand why you like Halloween so much." Noah continued, dropping his dance bag next to the door before coming face to face with Richelle, towering over her—this didn't give him any authority though, she would forever dominate their conversations in that sense, especially on Halloween.</p><p>"It's the best day to scare people, everything's all spooky, plus, this is definitely the last year we can get away with free candy, so you better suit up." She looked him up and down, still clad in his joggers and baseball tee.</p><p>"Fine." Noah surrendered, "As long as we can bring King and your little brother and sister, we will definitely get way more chocolate." </p><p>"Do you really think I'd come around here without them already fully dressed waiting downstairs with your brother?" Richelle stated plainly, folding her arms over her chest.</p><p>"I guess not." Noah chuckled, making his way towards his closet, Richelle following close behind, keen to assess his outfit choice very closely, she had already gone through the costume drama at home with the toddlers.</p><p>The truth was, Richelle actually had a really big family — not that anyone at the studio knew. Her mum had had her older sister Michelle as a teen, and Richelle four years later. Their biological dad had never really stayed in the picture, but it didn't matter, it just made them stronger. Their mum finally remarried and they moved to Toronto, the girls starting at The Next Step. Her mum and step-dad went onto have two more children; Richelle's sister, then brother, who were way younger than the teens at 4 and 2. </p><p>Richelle's parents now worked at a multinational tech conglomerate, her new dad being able to get her mum a better job. So, their busy schedule got in the way a lot of the time, and Franci often helped out with the youngest three, being self-employed. So, unsurprisingly Richelle and Noah got close, both at dance and school.</p><p>As Halloween rolled around, her parents were in New York attending some big corporate meeting, leaving Michelle in charge, and Richelle to handle their siblings during Internationals rehearsals. Safe to say, the house was always busy, and the studio was the older two's safe space away from the chaos, even with their different Troupe schedules. So, naturally, not many people really knew about their home life, not even about the sister thing. Nobody needed to know about their life back in Madison, their parental situation, or their siblings. You can't expose your flaws and weaknesses in the dance world, no matter how much you think you can trust your friends—that's one thing the girls agreed on.</p><p>"So, what's your costume?" Richelle asked (already knowing the answer) upon entering the all-too-familiar walk in closet, a multitude of mirrors flashing each of their reflections right back at them— classic Noah, always has to be within five feet of fixing his hair.</p><p>Noah slowly made his way over to the back corner, slowly pulling a wooden hanger off of it's post before whipping around towards his friend, eyebrows dancing atop his forehead before dancing around in a pirate jig. Of course he had the same costume, why would Richelle even entertain the idea of anything less; not that she could complain, hers hadn't changed either. </p><p>"Alright." She says, rolling her eyes, "I'm gonna head out so you can change, meet us downstairs when you're ready, and be quick, all the good stuff will be gone by seven, and I have to get back to mine by eight, Mich is going out for a party so I can't just dump the kids on her." </p><p>Noah was one of the few people at the studio that knew about Richelle and Michelle's relationship—basically living at each others houses and endless carpools to and from dance may have given it away. </p><p>It wasn't a big secret, but it was better for less people to be all up in their business. Miss Kate knew, obviously, along with James and Riley; they were Michelle's closest friends. Plus, Richelle and Noah went to school with James' younger sister, Piper, and so unsurprisingly, James was like her big brother too. It was just easier to ignore it at the studio though, Richelle didn't want anyone thinking she was getting special treatment (not that she was), it's not like she got a free pass onto the Internationals team like her sister, nooo—she had to literally beg for that audition spot. Still, she was proud of Michelle, and Noah too, no matter how many smoothie dates he had missed recently...</p><p>"I'll try, but my hair takes time!" Noah called after her.</p><p>"Be down in 5 or I'm stealing all of your hairbrushes." Richelle turned back, looking him dead in the eye. This was serious.</p><p>~~~</p><p>"Hey, thanks for this, I feel like we haven't been able to hang out in ages—I've missed you." Richelle mumbles that last part, a mixture of sleepiness and embarrassment, Noah couldn't tell which.</p><p>"Sorry, what was that?" Noah grins, earning an eye roll, "did you, Richelle Nolet, just admit that you've missed me?!" </p><p>"Maybe, what about it?" Her mouth tugs into a slight smile, preemptively irritated by what was about to come.</p><p>"Nothing, nothing... just revelling in this moment of glory... you missed meeee!" He drags on, whisper-shouting in consideration of the deeply sleeping two-year-old skeleton in his arms.</p><p>"Fine I take it back. I must have been thinking of another A-trouper that's too busy for me, maybe it was Eldon, he's a better turner anyways!" She smirks, only slightly joking.</p><p>"First off, Eldon is not a better turner than me, you wait and see. But second, and more importantly, I've missed you too Richelle." He smiles back,nudging her shoulder as they both blush under the the floodlights of Richelle's empty gravel driveway. </p><p>"Thanks, I wasn't sure..." She trails off.</p><p>He immediately frowns back at her, ready to spout off how much she plays on his mind during rehearsals as the little J-Trouper, But before he can get there, she carry's on, reading his facials and wanting to explain.</p><p>"No! Like you've just been so super busy and concentrated on dance and catching up to A-Troupe’s level, I just wasn't sure, you know, if you'd even remember about tonight..."</p><p>"Hey, you're way more important than dance, and I'll never miss Halloween. Even when we're old and wrinkly handing out the candy, it's tradition." He held out his pinkie, to which she gladly obliged before pulling him into her porch. </p><p>The rest of their routine went by with a silence only disturbed by Michelle, ("Seriously, you're twenty minutes late Rich, now I have to think of an excuse!"). Both Noah and Richelle giggled as she ran past them in a flurry, kicking their shoes off and dumping their stuffed pillowcases in the hallway. Kingsley waited begrudgingly at the door, anxious to get home, but he still agreed to hand out candy to any passers-by as the older two headed upstairs to put the sleeping children in their beds, you can't trust kids with a full bowl of sweets on a doorstep—it'd all be gone in minutes.</p><p>When they got back downstairs and his converse were back on, pillowcase sling over his shoulder, Noah hugged Richelle tightly. It didn't last long though, him quickly being dragged away by King. But he left with a smile, nothing could ruin his mood—his best friend missed him just as much as he missed her.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>:)<br/>- Tee</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. plus</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>~Season 7~ (or later if we ignore Emily leaving)</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Plus.</p>
<p>A little, tiny, green plus had flipped Richelle Nolet's world upside down by just... appearing on a piece of plastic.</p>
<p>She was currently standing by the girls' bathroom sink, holding onto it with both hands like her life depended on it. Her hands were slowly turning white from the pressure, the blood flow blocked by both the enormous shock and her intense leaning against the white porcelain. Slowly, almost like it'd go away if she just gave it a bit more time, her gaze wandered back to the piece of pink and white plastic.</p>
<p>Still Plus.</p>
<p>Then her gaze drifted back to the mirror to face herself. Unusually pale; scared; shaking. Though she'd been much less attached to her intricate life plans ever since her and Noah finally got together—becoming enormously less uptight with him around—this was not happening at the right time. Especially right now when Noah was almost 500 miles away filming a Steven Spielberg Movie in New York. Just the thought of their long distance situation made her feel weepy. Not to mention, her sister was also half way across the world touring for the next four months. Just as her life was starting to become calm, after all of the injuries, failed relationships and drama, she finally had Noah, and then the call came. He had got the part. </p>
<p>Obviously she urged him to go, he would have done the same if the tables were turned. It didn't seem so bad at first, she was busy with Nationals, they could FaceTime; they had waited so long to be together, what was a few more months. Then Michelle left, and now, alone and afraid, she had gotten herself into  this mess. For God’s sake, they were going to get an apartment together, live their dreams in New York after she won Nationals, then Internationals, maybe even get a goddamn PUPPY. </p>
<p>But fate and this stupid stick had other plans, causing Richelle to learn what pain really felt like. Because now she was in the bathroom, all alone; and then again not, there was apparently another little human—her and Noah's little human—growing inside of her. Her breaths grew closer and closer together causing her chest to collapse, feeling the calmness and confidence Noah had helped her grow over the past year slowly leave her body within seconds.</p>
<p>"Richelle!" She heard Emily’s voice calling out from the other side of the closed door. Emily had used her lunch break to buy and then bring her panic-attack-ridden friend the pregnancy test, but had spent the last 5 minutes unknowing of what the result and state of Richelle actually was, having been asked to guard the door. "Are you okay?" Her voice was unusually calm and sweet, a tone she reserved for only the closest to her—namely Riley, Michelle and the uncomfortably silent younger girl she was talking to at that moment. Richelle could sense that she genuinely was concerned by her tone, yet she froze, unable to get herself to move nor reply.</p>
<p>"That's it. I'm coming in!"</p>
<p>And in Emily did come. She pushed open the door, locking it behind her as to deter any unwanted intruders, only to see her friend's trembling figure from behind, still cramped over the white sink. Neither spoke for a moment after that, Emily frozen in shock, until Richelle's legs suddenly seemed to break beneath her weight.</p>
<p>"Shit!" Luckily the studio head was quick to lurch forward and catch the falling body by its waist. No other words needed to be said in order for the conclusion to be known.</p>
<p>Plus.</p>
<p>"Damn it, Richelle..." She carefully sat down on the cold, white tiled floor with, allowing the girl's body to fall and rest against her chest, curling tightly into her side, eyes wide with a fear Emily had never seen on her.</p>
<p>Logically, Emily knew that it wasn't her words that caused this reaction—Richelle had basically grown up with her blunt, harsh language—but as soon as the words left her mouth, the tears toppled over the edge, spilling all over her cheeks and Emily's left shoulder. Richelle just burrowed further as though in attempt to escape the realities beyond the safety of Emily's (newly soaked) red cardigan. </p>
<p>Everybody knew that Emily Beaton absolutely did not enjoy affection and emotions - at all - but seeing what was basically her baby sister in this horrifying situation, hopeless as ever? Suddenly she didn't care and squeezed her arms around the young girl's icy shoulder—still in her leotard—wordlessly telling her that it was okay. For minutes, maybe even hours, they just sat there in the afternoon light coming in through the closed bathroom window. When Noah left for New York they had it all planned out, now it was all crumbling apart around Richelle, and all Emily could do was watch.</p>
<p>"Do you want me to get Piper, or call Mich?" She softly whispered, her voice harsh against the tiled walls as their silence was broken.</p>
<p>"No!" Richelle jolted, looking at the floor, "I can't... I can't explain this to Piper, and there's no way in hell calling Michelle is gonna help."</p>
<p>"Okay, okay, don't worry, I got you." Emily backtracked, bringing her back into a loving squeeze.</p>
<p>"What am I going to do? Noah's not here... And I don't know when or even if he's coming back."</p>
<p>Emily froze for a second at her words, taking them in and feeling a wave of fear hit her. Noah and Richelle were her friends—she watched them both grow up—so of course she worried as well. "Don't say that. Of course he's coming back, filming wraps in four months." Noah staying in New York after all of this—over her dead body.</p>
<p>"Doesn't change anything. He's still not here," a snuffle punctuated Richelle's sentence.</p>
<p>"I guess..." Emily had to pause and think. She wasn't great at dealing with emotions, Michelle always covered that (especially since this was her sister); on the other hand this was Richelle. She had been mentoring the girl for years even after the official programme had ended, Richelle was as much her sister as Michelle's, so whatever it took, she was going to support her. "...What would you do if he was here?"</p>
<p>Another snuffle. "W-what do you mean?"</p>
<p>"You're not dumb, Richelle," Emily pulled away, pushing her friend back by an arm's length so they could properly look at each other or the first time this afternoon. "You know what I mean: do you want to have a baby with Noah?"</p>
<p>Of course she knew, but saying it out loud seemed too scary. She blinked her swollen eyes towards the floor then back up again to face the question. "I-I mean eventually, yes, I guess so."</p>
<p>There was something about these two kids, her friends, the silent pining over each other, this sweet, stupid love that pulled a smile over the corner of Emily's lips when she thought about their story. From the very beginning, the very second Richelle had caught feelings for Noah, Emily had known. Seeing her struggle to admit her feelings, both of them fawning over each other, denying it for years; it hadn't been easy - sometimes even disgustingly cute, though she'd never admit it - but it had definitely been worth it. Noah and Richelle made each other extremely happy and there was no doubt, when people said they made each other stronger, both when they were just friends and now as something more. They were without a doubt endgame, but Emily also had a rational side to her telling her that there was another question waiting to be asked.</p>
<p>"Do you want it now?"</p>
<p>Silence. Almost like she was hoping for reassurance, a right answer, Richelle's eyes immediately darted straight into Emily's. When she realised this sadly wouldn't give her any actual answers, a sigh of defeat left her body and allowed her shoulders to slump to a rest.</p>
<p>"No... Not like this."</p>
<p>Emily nodded reassuringly. </p>
<p>"It's not fair to me, him or whoever is in here," Richelle referred to the latter by gently grabbing her stomach through the stretch material of her leo. "But what if Noah comes back-"</p>
<p>"Richelle." Emily rolled her eyes.</p>
<p>Richelle stopped talking.</p>
<p>"Noah - and trust me when I say this - will understand." Not in a million years did Emily think she'd ever have to be talking the sassy little J-Trouper through this (especially since Michelle should be the one holding her hand), but suddenly she was and as she squeezed that hand, Richelle was finally smiling again. It was weak, looking surprised by Emily's secret soft side that rarely made an appearance, but nonetheless she was smiling. "And until Noah or Michelle come back—even after, if you want me to—I will help you through it. You're not alone and whatever you choose? It's your body, your future and it's okay."</p>
<p>"Okay." She couldn't muster the strength to say any more, instead, her head nuzzled into Emily's shoulder again, the speechless air saying more than either of them could muster.  The tears that once again danced down Richelle's cheeks were heavy with doubt, confusion and sadness but more importantly thankfulness. She was thankful for the extra sister she never thought she needed, but couldn't ever imagine living without.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>When I say this is the Richemily content I NEEDED.<br/>:)<br/>- Tee</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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